Crushing On The Enemy (Crushing on You 1)

“Anywhere but here,” he replied, using her line from earlier.

“Another fight with your dad?” Alyssa typed.

“Yep,” he replied.

“Park?” she asked.

“Sounds good,” he said.

“Be there soon,” she said.

Quietly she dressed and grabbed her backpack. Alyssa didn't think she would be back in time to gather her school things so she had to take them with her. She thought about waking Mattie to tell her, but didn't want to ruin her sleep as well.

Alyssa stopped at the twenty-four-seven gas station and got a cup of coffee. She was going to need the caffeine if she planned to pull an all-nighter. Pausing, she also picked up a couple of sodas and headed to the register.

The cashier was twisting her gum around her finger, so Alyssa told her to keep the change.

She took a wrong turn and had to back track, so it took her longer to get to the park than she had anticipated. When she arrived, Jake was already there waiting for her. He was sitting on the hood of his truck drinking a sports drink.

“Hey,” she said walking up to him.

“Hey,” he said.

For a few minutes she stood leaning against his truck and neither of them spoke. She could tell that Jake was just as tired as she was. Alyssa found herself missing the lumpy sofa back at Mattie's, but there was something exciting about being out in the dark.

She glanced up at the sky and without the glare of city lights the stars were brighter than she had ever seen before.

“It's nice out tonight,” Alyssa smiled up at him.

“Yea,” he sighed.

“Want to talk about it?” she asked.

“Not really, it's just the usual bs.” Jake replied.

“Okay,” Alyssa nodded, “let's talk about school spirit.”

“Ha ha,” he said.

“No seriously,” she said.

“What about it?” Jake asked.

“That's the complicated part,” she sighed.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I've lost mine, have you seen it?” she laughed.

“No, but I'll check the glove box in a minute,” he chuckled.

“I guess, I don't know, it just seems that everything I thought about my school, my friends, was a lie,” she sighed.

“No,” Jake shook his head, “Your school has always had plenty of spirit.”

“True, but I've lost mine,” she sighed.

“No, you've just redirected it,” he said.